471

471. I want everyone to remember that number. 471. That is the number of parents that this country has separated from their kids with its border camps. 471. If another country was doing that we, as a country, would be up in arms. 471. Most of you are parents. I am a parent though I didn't raise my daughters and you can bet there would be some people in a bad way if they tried to do this to me and my girls. Remember when THIS is what America represented?

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Remember when we, as a country, fought over and over again to fight oppression and hatred? Remember when we cared about our fellow humans? Because I don't anymore! I see over and over again the hatred. "You must tell me what it is. I've always been dissatisfied, I know that. But lately I find that I reek of discontentment. It fills my throat, and it floods my brain. And sometimes I fear there is no longer a dream, but only the discontentment." That is a quote from the musical 1776. There is no longer an American Dream. There is only a nightmare that we as a country has been creating since 2000 in my opinion. The moment that President Bush took office this country decided it would not be civil anymore. The rise of the Daily Shows and the Colbert Reports and the O'Reilly Report and whatever Maddows show is called. When it became truly mean to talk about the President and not Chevy Chase falling down. When it went from comedy to hatred. The American Dream is dead and what is next? We have almost weekly mass shootings or beatings or smug ass kids in the media with their hate-filled hearts on their sleeves. We have a President who refused to say that the KKK were bad people. Think about that! THE K-K-K! THEY ARE THE VERY FUCKING DEFINITION OF BAD PEOPLE! I wake up every morning, check the news and I die a little more inside because of what I see this once great country becoming.

You know why people don’t like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so fucking smart, how come they lose so goddamn always? [turns to another panelist] And with a straight face, you’re gonna tell students that America is so star-spangled awesome that we’re the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom. Japan has freedom. The UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom! So, 207 sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom. [turns to the student who asked the question] And yeah, you… sorority girl. Just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there’s some things you should know. One of them is: there’s absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world. We’re 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, 3rd in median household income, number 4 in labor force and number 4 in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined, 25 of whom are allies. Now, none of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are, without a doubt, a member of the worst period generation period ever period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about! Yosemite?! It sure used to be… We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reason. We passed laws, struck down laws, for moral reason. We waged wars on poverty, not on poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were and we never beat our chest. We built great, big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists AND the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, acted like men. We aspired to intelligence, we didn’t belittle it. It didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election and we didn’t scare so easy. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed… by great men, men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

That is a scene from the TV Show the Newsroom and that is how I feel. We aren't the greatest country in the world. What we do to our citizens and those who only want a chance to be what we are makes me sick. This isn't a rant on President Trump because it has been happening a long LONG time now. We live in a country where people find it okay not to bake a cake for people because they are gay. Imagine if that word gay was replaced with Christian or Women or African American. But because the religious nuts in this country want to cling to their bibles it is acceptable and applauded. We had an elected official who refused to do her job and members of the government supported her! SUPPORTED HER HATE! I could go on and on but what is the point? It isn't going to change till things fall apart and I for one will play my fiddle as it happens. The fiction that people write often talks about a future torn apart by hate. Is it truly fiction or have these people been given a glimpse into our future. A future we could prevent but we won't. Why? Because we have been blinded. Not by the light but by hate. No witty sign off. No funny quote. This time I sign off asking each and every person who might read this to do something. Walk to the nearest mirror and stare into your own eyes, the windows of your soul, and look at it for 1 minute. 1 full minute. Look at it and ask yourself if your thoughts match up with your beliefs. Do you say or do or support the things that are promoting the hatred that is tearing this country apart? Then as you walk away from the mirror ask yourself if that is the person you want to be and is this the country you want to be in and have your family in.